The Sword Sage Who Sweeps Even Falling Leaves
Anyone would have thought the Sword Sage could sweep away even a falling leaf. Seeing a person fly off so helplessly like that, probably anyone would.
“Gaaah!”
“Hngh!”
The escorts meant to protect the nobles could do nothing but scream.
The transcendent was flaunting his otherworldly might without restraint.
“Ah, Lord Isaac!”
Jonathan desperately threw himself in front of Isaac and shouted.
“You must flee!”
Staying here meant death. But Isaac’s gaze was fixed solely on the tiger-shaped transcendent.
He’s swinging that greatsword?
Isaac stared piercingly at the greatsword, as if he hadn’t even heard Jonathan calling him. Even after Jonathan shook him several times with no response.
Pfuk!
Silberna’s spear plunged into the transcendent’s back.
“You bleed too, huh...”
Forcing the corner of her mouth up in a twisted grin, Silberna yanked the spear free.
Drip!
Thick, heavy blood trickled down the transcendent’s back, and he slowly turned toward her.
“A somewhat entertaining human after all.”
Despite the spear wound, he didn’t seem greatly pained. If anything, he looked like his blood was finally warming up as he smoothly swung the greatsword through the air toward her.
In the meantime, the other nobles were fleeing.
The brief clash had made the outcome obvious, and the innate terror radiating from the transcendent was too much for greenhorns to endure.
“Lord Isaac! For now, just—just run!”
Unable to bear seeing Isaac standing there dumbfounded, Jonathan finally tried to hoist him onto his back.
“Jonathan.”
Isaac pushed him away and asked.
“You’re confident in your stamina, right?”
“Pardon?! Suddenly? What do you mean?!”
“Can you carry me all the way to the Mallidan Wall?”
At the question, Jonathan’s eyes widened, and he pounded his chest with his fist.
“I’ll do it no matter what. I’m your knight, here to protect you, Lord Isaac! So right now—!”
“Good. Then wait here.”
“Pardon?”
Jonathan, inwardly proud of what had felt like a perfect heroic moment, panicked as Isaac brushed past him.
“Lord Isaac?!”
“Get ready to run. We have to go right now.”
“What do you—!”
Jonathan’s words cut off. Because Isaac had stepped right in front of the two fiercely clashing fighters.
“Isaac?!”
Silberna, barely parrying the greatsword, looked at him in shock.
Isaac didn’t answer her silent question of why he hadn’t fled.
There’s only one way to win here.
The transcendent would never let a human who’d seen him live. Once he finished with Silberna and chased the fleeing nobles, they’d be caught in no time. Even starting now, coldly judging the odds, the transcendent might reach the Mallidan Wall first and lie in wait.
So.
He had to draw its attention. Make it know there was a human it couldn’t just overlook.
Isaac stepped forward to volunteer for that role.
How? To a transcendent who saw all humans as the same prey.
How could Isaac make it see him as special prey?
“Run! Isaac! It’s a monster! Not some ordinary beast!”
Despite Silberna’s desperate cry, Isaac didn’t slow his steps. He was double-checking to the very end if his judgment was correct.
And finally.
A single word.
The moment his breath carried it on the wind...
“...”
The transcendent halted its greatsword.
“Wh-what!?”
Silberna, who’d been struggling to block it, was bewildered. She hadn’t heard what Isaac said or why the thing had suddenly stopped.
But.
The transcendent’s gaze was already on Isaac.
“Just now.”
Its brow twisted hideously, a faint tremor unlike it in its voice.
“What did you say?”
Isaac met the beast’s blue eyes with a mocking sneer.
“Raven swordsmanship. The style Blackhand teaches in-house, right?”
Blackhand was one of the kingdom’s noble houses, and one of the dispatched nobles hailed from there.
“I was confused at first. The greatsword swings made me think greatsword style. But no. Considering your size and strength, I should’ve looked to one-handed sword techniques instead.”
To it, a human greatsword wasn’t much different from a one-hander.
“Traces of that style are everywhere. Especially the way you deliberately widen your stance too much to control your center of gravity—it’s identical.”
“...”
“Want me to tell you something? Your foot structure’s different from humans’, so you don’t need to widen your stance that much.”
“Grrrng.”
The transcendent instinctively glanced down at its own stance.
“Know what this means?”
Despite Isaac’s meaningful smile, the transcendent said nothing. No need to overthink it.
“The Blackhand house taught you swordsmanship. They must be the ones who tried trading Holstein’s confiscated goods too.”
But Blackhand apparently had no intention of a fair trade. Sending a transcendent instead of gold coins said as much.
The grave robbers would’ve met the same end even without touching the beast horde.
“I’ve always wondered how transcendents get their info on the kingdom and move like they do.”
A question lingering since his past life, now answered.
“There were traitors in the kingdom.”
The transcendent gripped its greatsword tighter. Veins bulging, it licked its protruding fangs with its long tongue.
An existence it absolutely couldn’t let go. No longer prey.
Now a man it had to kill.
“You... just swung a sword a few times.”
The transcendent muttered, sounding somewhat indignant despite itself.
It hadn’t done anything to reveal its identity. Short words, greatsword swings—impossible to pinpoint.
“And from that alone, you identified us... and even the traitors?”
Isaac crossed his arms and chuckled.
“If you think it’s ‘just’ that, then that’s as far as you go.”
“Hah.”
The transcendent let out a hollow laugh. It admitted it. That man was truly.
“A sage. The Sage of Swords.”
From just a few swings in front of him, he’d reached the truth effortlessly.
“I’m impressed by your profound wisdom and knowledge. May I ask your name?”
“Isaac.”
“Right, Isaac.”
Clearly different from the other worthless prey.
“You must die.”
“Isaac!”
Silberna’s urgent voice. She desperately thrust her spear at the transcendent’s back, but it sliced only air.
The transcendent had already kicked off the ground, charging straight at Isaac.
The others didn’t matter. But this man—it had to kill him.
He’d figured it out from one fight. Gleaned dozens of insights from habitually swung swords.
I’ll kill him no matter what!
Letting him live here would mean imagining the countless ways he’d trip them up later—terrifying.
The transcendents weren’t ready yet. His kin needed time to drive out humans and devour the continent!
“Lord Isaac!”
But like Silberna’s spear, the transcendent’s greatsword cleaved only air.
Jonathan, emanating faint red aura from his whole body, had already hoisted Isaac onto his back and was running.
“Jonathan, what the hell is that Red Aura?!”
“N-not the time for that!”
Isaac couldn’t help lamenting at Jonathan’s pathetically weak aura. A Helmont knight couldn’t handle the Helmont-exclusive Red Aura any better than this?
“Get your head straight! You’re the only one who can outrun that thing right now!”
Helmont direct lineage had overwhelming physical prowess. They alone among humans could stand toe-to-toe with transcendents.
Helmont knights trained with those direct descendants and wielded Red Aura.
“O-okay!”
Glancing back as he heard Jonathan’s reply.
The transcendent, greatsword in its mouth, racing on all fours.
“Insane.”
Isaac cursed at the monstrous speed. Far faster than expected. Jonathan had considerable speed and stamina as a Helmont knight, but.
This situation—they’d be caught any second. No slipping even on glances at the ground, trees sprouting everywhere mere toys to it.
“Jonathan! Head to the rear wall! That’s the way!”
“Hah! Hah! Pardon?! What?!”
“Rear wall! Where the beasts swarmed! Go there!”
“Whaaat?! No! Hah! Th-there’ll be beasts everywhere! Hah!”
“That’s the only way to survive!”
“Hah! Hah!”
Jonathan looked like he wanted to argue but was too exhausted to speak.
The moment Isaac turned to check how far it had followed.
“Grrrng.”
“...!”
Already right behind. Close enough to touch.
Isaac swallowed dryly in shock.
This fast!?
Unable to hide his dismay, Isaac drew the sword he’d grabbed.
Swinging properly while piggybacked was impossible, but he had to try.
“Grrrng!”
It gripped the greatsword from its mouth and swung.
Power to bisect them both.
But Isaac angled his blade, barely deflecting it.
“Nngh!”
Bracing with his opposite arm against the blade let him hold once.
“Ah, shit—!”
His grip failed; he lost the sword. Just one deflection, and his weapon was gone.
“I won’t deny your great knowledge.”
The transcendent muttered with hatred. It realized its swing had been blocked because Isaac mastered Blackhand’s Raven swordsmanship.
“But now it’s over.”
The moment it swung the greatsword again.
“Sorry, Lord Isaac!”
Jonathan released the hand supporting Isaac’s butt. Then lifted both arms, catching Isaac under the armpits.
“Glory to Helmont!”
“Whoaaa?!”
And hurled him forward.
Jonathan’s strike, all his Red Aura condensed, was tremendous.
Isaac soared like a bird. He nearly hit branches mid-flight but curled up, avoiding a crash.
Still.
“Jonathan!”
He worried for Jonathan left alone. It wouldn’t bother much chasing him, but one greatsword swing was plenty to sever his neck.
With the transcendent’s bizarre hatred for humans, expecting his survival was slim.
As he swallowed Jonathan’s sacrifice.
Isaac finally hit the ground.
“Nngh!”
Not straight down. He sank into something sticky.
He realized belatedly it was beast blood.
Beast corpses strewn everywhere. And in the distance, the Mallidan Wall.
They’d repelled the beast assault well, it seemed.
“Grrrng!”
Then the transcendent appeared, descending the mountain.
Chasing on all fours in an instant. Planning to kill Isaac before he reached the wall.
To make Jonathan’s sacrifice meaningful.
Isaac sprinted desperately toward the wall. Not to survive.
To kill that thing.
* * *
Transcendent, White Tiger. That was his name. Called so for his striking pure white fur.
“Grrrng!”
Now, he raced across the snowy field under the moon.
To catch and kill the black-haired man in the distance.
The wall’s still far. Plenty of time to kill him!
He spurred himself on. That man absolutely couldn’t be spared.
Even if he died here, White Tiger vowed to tear out his throat.
Reaching the melted snow—beast corpses and blood—his speed surged noticeably.
The distance closed in moments.
Arrows rained down on him.
They spotted me from the wall.
Cover fire to protect the man.
These arrows.
His thick hide repelled them.
At a certain distance, the transcendent stopped running and gripped the greatsword in his mouth with his hand.
“Graaaargh!”
With a fierce roar, he swung it back wide, then hurled it straight.
The spinning greatsword flew like a windmill straight at Isaac.
Just before impact.
Shweeeeeek!
Kaboom!
A massive spear from the sky split the greatsword in half, sending it flying.
“What...?”
Its blue eyes filled with bewilderment.
A single spear embedded in the ground.
As the transcendent slowly looked up, atop the wall.
A massive man, arms crossed, looking down at him.
“Ah.”
Before coming here, the Blackhand nobles had warned him several times.
Never meet him, no matter what.
He’s said to rival the Helmont patriarch.
The North’s hero. Guardian god of the wall.
Border White.
“Uldiran... Kaldias...”
The transcendent realized, for the first time in his life, that he was trembling before a human.
Those coldly sunken eyes saw him no different from the beast corpses scattered around.
“Graaaargh!”
The transcendent roared and charged forward again. Judging he had to kill Isaac somehow, even if it died.
Kuduk! Kuduk!
Its legs pounded the ground like hammers from the force.
Seeing Uldiran grab the next spear, it charged even more ferociously.
“Graaaargh!”
As the distance to Isaac closed, it leaped.
But again.
Shweeeeeek!
Another spear sliced through the northern night air.
Kuduk!
Something entered its vision. The spear shaft.
It realized too late it had pierced its body, skewering its heart.
“Ah... Aah—.”
In lament, it reached out a hand.
“I... sac!”
Because it had let him live now.
How many kin would die.
Mingling regret with its final breath.
Strength fled White Tiger’s body, and it dropped its head with eyes wide open.